American idol

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Stan the Man really was. Even normally nasty fans of opposing teams said so. In fact, it’s said, it was the Brooklyn Dodgers’ notorious boobirds who gave the great St. Louis Cardinals’ Stan Musial his nickname — and without a trace of irony.

What else could you possibly nickname a guy who won seven National League batting titles, three MVP crowns, led the Cards to three World Series triumphs and hit a lifetime .331 with 475 home runs? Stan the Man indeed. The loyal Musial spent his entire career with the Cardinals and breathed his last breath recently at age 92 in the city that became synonymous with his name.

More than a slugger, Musial was unfailingly a gentleman. His headlines were of feats, not foolishness. He went to the plate with a smile, and in the exceedingly rare instances of a strikeout, he left the plate with a smile. He never beefed about the ump’s questionable notion of a strike zone. Not that strike zones were ever that much of an issue with Stan the Man. The reach of his bat and his keen eye and reflexes made any pitch — low, high, outside — a prospect for the upper decks.

Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine tells the story that his hurler colleague Preacher Roe was asked how the heck you pitch a guy like Stan the Man. “In the dirt — and behind him,” was Preacher’s advice.

Musial’s trademark stance — a coiled sort of crouch, feet together, positioned in the far corner of the batter’s box — was unsuccessfully imitated by sandlot kids and farm team rookies. Across a vast swath of the farm belt and plains states, Podunk dwellers religiously followed the Musial era on the radio, including many out on the far boundaries where static and reception came to a standoff.

Youngsters up and down the river, from Keokuk to Sikeston and places beyond, tried to drag Musial-size lumber up to the plate. They had to be persuaded by dads and coaches to pick a bat more appropriate to their pint-size dimensions. And there was no more devastating reproach to poor sportsmanship than an adult’s wagging finger and the comment, “Stan the Man would never do anything like that.”